Folkestone Invicta 8-1 Ascot United - When you're apart of a really good successful team, which we want to be, you do go on and put teams to the sword and that's what good teams do, says Folkestone Invicta manager Andy Drury

Folkestone Invicta 8 – 1 Ascot United
Location	Cheriton Road, Folkestone, Kent CT19 5JU
Kickoff	05/10/2024 15:00

FOLKESTONE INVICTA  8-1  ASCOT UNITED
The Isuzu FA Trophy Third Qualifying Round
Saturday 5 October 2024
Stephen McCartney reports from Cheriton Road

FOLKESTONE INVICTA manager Andy Drury says when you want to be a really good and successful team you have to put teams to the sword after recording the club’s biggest win in The FA Trophy.

 

Jamie Tompkins’ side won The FA Vase by beating Newport Pagnell Town 1-0 at Wembley Stadium in 2022 but they were outclassed by Folkestone Invicta at Cheriton Road in the Third Qualifying Round.

Ascot United arrived on the Kent coast sitting in eleventh-place in the Isthmian League South Central Division having picked up 10 points (three wins, one draw) from their seven league games.

Ascot United defeated Ashford Town (Middlesex) 4-3 on penalties after a 1-1 draw, Merstham (5-0) and stunned Ben Greenhalgh’s Margate 1-0 last time out to deny a Kent derby here today.

But their run ended by ruthless Folkestone Invicta, who opened the floodgates after 18 minutes through winger Khale Da Costa’s first goal for the club, before woeful Ascot United centre-half Joe Gater scored an own goal.

Folkestone Invicta rattled in three goals on the stroke of half-time through central midfielder Amadou Kassarte and striker Daniel Smith, 25.

Smith tucked home a penalty to give Folkestone Invicta a commanding 5-0 lead at half-time.

Smith notched his hat-trick to score his ninth goal of the season.

Jenkins made four changes early in the second half and they scored a consolation goal on the hour-mark through right-winger Sean McCormack notching his fourth goal of the season.

Winger Abouhadje Evans Kouassi, 35, came off the bench to slot in goals seven and eight as a sun-kissed crowd of 263 were treated to the Kent club’s best showing in the competition to set up a First Round tie on Saturday 26 October.

“Delighted with the result,” said Drury, who has now been in charge of 39 games, winning 12, drawing 10 and losing 17 in all competitions.

“I think to be honest our performances over the course of the season, we’ve kind of felt one of them was actually coming but we haven’t actually done it.

“I said to the boys today, it’s a game where if we go and do our job, 11 people go and do our job, it will be a good afternoon.

“I asked for tempo, work-rate and be a team and be ruthless.  The four things I was looking for today and for 90 minutes, whoever was on the pitch out of the 16 boys that went on there, they all did that and we got the rewards from it.”

With temperatures of 16 degrees, Folkestone Invicta’s tempo was slow and patient and they created their first opening after only 99 seconds following the first of their four corners.

Left-back Jamie Mascoll delivered a high, hanging delivery from the right towards the back post, the ball coming off Marvel Ekpiteta’s head and bouncing past the near-post.

Ascot United’s five-goal striker Taylor Morgan felt the effects of a sore back in the sixth minute and seven-goal wide striker Anas Igozouln couldn’t get any change out of Folkestone Invicta’s 34-year-old right-back Gavin Hoyte, a summer signing from National League South side Maidstone United.

Ascot United’s central midfielder Harry Grant swept a first-time diagonal out to Igozouln on the left and after cutting onto his right-foot his low cross wasn’t cut out by Ian Gayle in the middle and found Taylor Morgan at the far post but his shot was charged down by centre-half Ekpiteta and goalkeeper Jonathan Henly comfortably picked the ball up at his near post (10:24).

Da Costa swept the ball out to the impressive Matthias Fanimo and the former Ebbsfleet United winger cut in from the right and cracked a left-footed drive straight down the throat of visiting goalkeeper Mark Scott from 25-yards.

“Matty was outstanding on the right. He had a couple of chances where the keeper’s pulled off a couple of great saves from him,” said Drury.

“I played with him when he was younger at Eastleigh and we used to travel down to Eastleigh together.

“Matty was at Ebbsfleet last year, so we know he’s got good quality. He’s a match winner on his day. He knows the game. He’s going to keep the ball and I thought he was brilliant today.”

Drury explained Fanimo has come in to replace the released Ellis Brown 28, while 23-year-old defender Peter Ojemen has also left Cheriton Road.

He said:  “I think there’s a certain amount of players you can carry.

“We’ve signed Matty to see what he can give us.  Ellis is a good lad but personal opinion.  Matty brings us a kind of National League player, to get him we’re quite lucky.  Unfortunately, someone’s got to leave and Ellis had to go.

“I had a chat with Pete and he just wanted to go and play football. We’ve got Marvel Ekpiteta and Ian Gayle, Marv was outstanding today, so it’s going to be hard for him to get a place in the team.  You can only be honest with players. If they want to move on, they’ll move on.”

Folkestone Invicta deservedly took the lead with 17 minutes and 53 seconds on the clock.

Attacking midfielder Jack Jebb often linked up well inside the Ascot United half and he played the ball out to Fanimo, who played the ball inside to Kassarate, whose initial shot was charged down on the edge of the box.

Invicta kept patient and in the second phase, Jebb played in a low cross towards the near post, which was swept first time by Da Costa, across the keeper to find the bottom far corner from 16-yards.

Drury said: “I think it was a good delivery.  Matty was really good for us out on the right, so he’s rolled it back to Jebby and it’s a decent cross from Jebby and a decent finish from Khale.

Fanimo’s skill and pace gave Ascot left-back George Butler a nightmare and the winger put it on a plate for holding midfielder Dean Rance, who skied a first-time right-footed shot high over the crossbar from 18-yards, after making a forward run straight down the middle.

Jeff floated in a free-kick from the right towards the back post where the ball bounced off Kassarate and rolled into Scott’s gloves for a simple pick-up.

Scott was called into action and made a superb diving save with his strong left-hand to deny dominant Folkestone Invicta a second (27:027).

Centre-half Gayle clipped a long diagonal out of defence into the channel and McCormack’s clearance was awful and instead of going upfield it went into the D where Smith smacked a right-footed volley towards goal, forcing Scott to dive to his left to pull off a big save.

Drury said: “Smithy’s been pretty unlucky.  I mean he’s had two or three, really good saves from some of his efforts over the course of the season, so he could actually be on 11 or 12 goals for the start of October, which is good really.

“Smithy is someone who I’ve always liked. He’s always got goals in him, so we’re looking to get him up to that 30 mark this year.

“Smithy came from Bognor Regis last year but I’ve known him from Eastleigh and Dulwich, so I know what Smithy can do.  He gives us the work-rate as well. He’s been really good for us.”

Folkestone Invicta doubled their lead with 28 minutes and 49 seconds on the clock.

Mascoll and Smith pressed Ascot United down the left and right-back George Lock opened the gate and as Smith pressed Gater, the centre-half sent the ball bouncing in front of his goalkeeper, who dived to his left and pushed the ball into the corner of his goal, attempting to claw the ball out.

“I think it was an own goal.  We’ve gone and tried to nick it and it’s gone in and it's just gone in over the keeper,” said Drury.

“To be fair, we haven’t had a goal like that all season, so it’s quite good for a goal like that to go in for us.

“I think Smithy’s kicked it and something’s happened over there. I’ll have to re-watch it but it was nice to settle us down, I think at that 2-0 scoreline.”

Ascot United capitulated as Folkestone Invicta scored with the first half clock showing 43:50, 45:02 and 49:02.

Ascot United centre-half Gater lost the ball inside his box to a pressing Kassarate, who cut inside before being given plenty of time and space to place  his right-footed shot into the bottom near corner to give Folkestone Invicta a three-goal lead.

“We knew they’ll try to play out. We set our press up to see if we could get goals from that press in the final third,” explained Drury.

“Amadou’s done that a few times for us to be fair. He’s come in and I think he’s scored three and set two up in four or five games.

“He’s got a great attitude, his work-rate is fantastic and he’s just signed a contract until the end of the season as well, so we’re delighted with Amadou.”

Goal number four swiftly followed just 72 seconds later when Ascot lost possession inside their defensive third down the middle and Kassarate picked the pocket again before Smith drilled a sublime right-footed drive into the left-hand corner from 25-yards.

“Another assist for Amadou.  They did that a couple of weeks ago at Hendon so the goals came thick and fast towards the end of the first half but it was pleasing to see. It was a decent strike from Dan as well,” added Drury.

The impressive Kassarate fed Da Costa, who slipped a low pass in behind Lock and Gater to play Smith into the box and goalkeeper Scott came out and brought down the striker and referee David Spain pointed to the spot.

Scott dived to his left and Smith placed a clinical right-footed shot straight down the middle as Folkestone Invicta went into the break with a 5-0 lead.

Referee David Spain played 49:54 in the first half and 52:07 in the second.

“Good penalty as well, good penalty, definitely a penalty. I don’t think there was any arguments whatsoever,” added Drury, who was asked his thoughts at the break with a 5-0 lead.

“It was quite nice.  I said that it’s only been 5-0 because everyone’s doing their jobs and the minute you go away from it is the minute we don’t get success from it.

“We had to keep the tempo up. We had to keep the work-rate up and I think a few things disrupted us in the second half but we carried on and got another three goals.”

Drury was forced to replace Gayle at the interval due to feeling sick and on came Chris Sessegnon to slot in at right-back. However, the 31-year-old lasted 12 minutes as he dislocated his left-shoulder and Kassarate was also forced off in the 83^rd minute.

“Sessegnon has dislocated his shoulder. We’ve got it back in but we’ll have to asses him over the next few days to see how saw it is,” revealed Drury.

“Amadou – he got a bit of blurred vision, I think, because his contacts have come out, so nothing major.

“Ian Gayle – he had a bit of a bug at half time, so he was a bit sick, so he had to come off as well.

“Look, a few things unsettled the balance a little bit but we carried on  and everyone carried on doing their jobs and we got a good result.”

Da Costa (who’s passes on the deck were of a very high standard) released Fanimo, who skipped past the woeful Gater and managed to get his shot away from a tight angle, which deflected just past the foot of the near-post after only 197 seconds.

Folkestone Invicta notched their sixth goal of the game with six minutes and 38 seconds on the second half clock.

Da Costa split open Ascot’s two centre-halves Gater and captain Daniel Bailey to play in Smith, who placed his left-footed shot into the bottom far corner when faced with the goalkeeper in a one-on-one dual.

There was now a six man Ascot United inquest going on out on the pitch while Sessegnon was treated for his shoulder injury.

“Good goal, good run, good finish. He got a good hat-trick there, which is nice and Khale’s got a good assist as well,” added Drury, who was asked about his side’s ruthless scoring streak here today, having scored 12, conceded 13 in eight league outings this season.

“I don’t think we’ve scored enough really. I think we’ve had the chances but we haven’t quite been ruthless enough.

“We had 14 chances last week (losing 1-0 away to Chichester City).  We could’ve easily had five or six again but to get eight goals at home, no matter who we’re playing against, really is very good.”

Jenkins inevitably hooked Gater, holding midfielder Sean Fraser (who offered no protection for his back four), midfielder Grant and winger Igozouln and left-winger Aiden Payne-James came off the bench and impressed and he played a part in Ascot United scoring a consolation goal with 14 minutes and 13 seconds on the clock.

Payne-James cut in from the left and his right-footed angled drive was parried by goalkeeper Jonathan Henly (diving to his left) and McCormack pounced to slam the ball over the line from two-yards out.

“It’s probably the only disappointing thing to come out of the afternoon really, was not getting a clean-sheet but I think it’s probably where we’ve moved Gavin Hoyte (from right-back to right centre-back) and we’ve taken Ian Gayle off and we had to take Sessegnon off.  I think that probably had a bit of a factor to it.”

Ascot United had a brief spell of having a bit of a go at their higher-league hosts before the post denied Smith his fourth goal in the 69^th minute.

Mascoll, now playing right-back, hit a sublime 60-yard switch from right-to-left over to Da Costa, who put over a cross for Smith to flick his header across the keeper, only for the ball to bounce off the post and was grabbed by the relieved Scott close to the goal-line.

“Yes, that’s what normally happens for us. He’s quite unlucky really. On another day we could’ve had 11 or 12 goals today as well,” claimed Drury.

Taylor Morgan dropped deep before feeding Payne-James, who cut inside Mascoll before his right-footed drive was comfortably caught in the midriff of the former Tonbridge Angels goalkeeper.

The final 20 minutes was a bit of a cagey stalemate - as Liam Tack slotted in at right-back and brought some resilience to Ascot's battered defence - before Folkestone Invicta scored their seventh goal with 42 minutes and 19 seconds on the clock.

Da Costa split open a woeful Bailey to play in Kouassi, who held his composure to skip past the advancing goalkeeper before slotting into the empty net.

“Evans got the last two didn’t he, so they were both good finishes,” said Drury.

“It’s his kind of game, what he thrives on really, in the last half-hour. He was good when he came on. He’s always a threat. If he’s on it, defenders can’t handle him.”

Folkestone Invicta made it a great eight with 47 minutes and 38 seconds on the clock.

Mascoll hit a long diagonal through ball to put Kouassi in on goal again and Bailey opened the gate once more and as the goalkeeper came out, the winger stabbed the ball through his legs and the ball nestled inside the bottom left-hand corner.

“Evans was good today when he came on. He was a threat in behind and you can see at these levels, he’s got that bit of X factor where he can go and make something out of nothing,” added Drury.

“The only way you can get those scorelines is by being professional and keep working and doing the right things.  It would’ve been easy for us to kind of stop at 5-0 and maybe it would’ve been 5-1 or 5-2, like a lot of teams do.

“But when you’re a part of a really good, successful team, which we want to be, you do go on and put teams to the sword and that’s what good teams do and today we’ve done that.

“But we know we’re not there as a group at the moment. We’ve had to bring two or three players and they’re not quite up to speed 100 per cent but we know we can go on a run.  There’s a long way to go!

“I’m hoping we can grow as a team. We’re a new squad, a new team, we’re 10 games into the season. It’s about keep working hard as a team and keep growing as individuals together.”

When asked what The FA Trophy means to the club this season, Drury replied: “Our three main priorities was to try to push for the play-offs by the end of the season if we can.  We know with a new squad it takes time, it doesn’t happen overnight.

“We wanted a good FA Cup run, which we didn’t get because we went out (losing 3-1 at Isthmian League South East Division side Ramsgate) after going down to 10 men after 10 minutes, which was always going to be tough.

“I think if was 11-v-11, we might’ve won that game but going down to 10 men after 10 minutes was never going to easy so that kind of put paid to that.

“Today was the last cup competition we’re kind of involved in so it’s important that we try to get as a far as we can in it.

“I said to the boys before the game, it’s a good opportunity to go far in this because some of the National League teams, they don’t take it too serious, they play their youth teams in it, some of them do, so with the team we’ve got in there, on our day I think we can do most National South clubs. Obviously, we need us to be on it properly, but if we are we’re a match for anyone at the level above as well.”

Folkestone Invicta are in 12^th place in the Isthmian League Premier Division table, having picked up 11 points (three wins, two draws) from their eight league games. 

Craig Nelson’s Lewes are top with 20 points from nine games, while the play-off places contain Billericay Town (16 points), Potters Bar Town (15), Dover Athletic (14) and Hendon (14) – but Invicta are only three points behind.

Folkestone Invicta welcome Hashtag United to Cheriton Road next Saturday and they are in sixteenth-place (three wins from their eight games).

The Aveley, Essex based outfit beat Hitchin Town 1-0 in The FA Trophy today, courtesy of Misha Djemaili’s penalty on the stroke of half-time.

“We’re probably three to five points away from where we should be and that kind of puts us in the top three, I think,” said Drury.

“It’s very tight, it’s early days. It’s a long old season and we’ve got boys who are experienced in there. We feel in the months we’re going to go on a decent run.

“It doesn’t happen overnight….It’s just those fine lines we’ve suffer from really playing over the course of the start of the season.

“Hashtag is a game we’ll be looking to get three points from. We need to go and win games in the league, we know that. We don’t want to leave ourselves too big enough gap.  Today would’ve given us a lot of confidence and yes I’ll be looking forward to next Saturday.”

Two-goal striker, Tom Derry, meanwhile, can return to the squad next weekend because he has now served his three-match suspension.

Folkestone Invicta: Jonathan Henly, Gavin Hoyte, Jamie Mascoll, Dean Rance, Marvel Ekpiteta, Ian Gayle (Chris Sessegnon 46, Frankie Del Morgan 58)), Khale Da Costa, Amadou Kassarate (Eze Ebuzoeme 83), Daniel Smith, Jack Jebb (Sam Blackman 68), Matthias Fanimo (Abouhadje Evans Kouassi 73).

Goals: Khale Da Costa 18, Joe Gater 29 (own goal), Amadou Kassarate 44, Daniel Smith 45, 45 (penalty), 52, Abouhadje Evans Kouassi 87, 90

Ascot United: Mark Scott, George Lock, George Butler, Sean Fraser (Connor Holland 55), Joe Gater (Nathan Jones 55), Daniel Bailey, Anas Igozouln (Aiden Payne-James 56), Harry Grant (Oliver Mason 55), Taylor Morgan, Liam Tack, Sean McCormack.
Sub: Samuel Wyer

Goal: Sean McCormack 60

Booked: George Butler 40, Connor Holland 55

Attendance: 263
Referee: Mr David Spain
Assistants: Mr Alan Widnall & Mr Chris Findlay-Geer